SETTLING down in the sunshine with a glass of rosé in a vineyard a stone’s throw from the sea, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were somewhere extremely expensive and foreign.

In fact, this was the West Country, and our food and wine was created just moments away from where we were sitting.

Our brief on this trip was simple: “Go Local. Try not to stray more than five miles away from your country cottage base.”

At first we feared we were shackling ourselves to a potential holiday disaster. But on Dorset’s dramatic Jurassic coast, we had fun proving ourselves wrong.

We were spending a week at the picturesque Chapel Barn cottage, in Salwayash. And on our doorstep there were more farm shops selling sumptuous local produce, and more tourist attractions than you could shake a country stick at.

The two-bedroom converted 17th-Century barn, run by John and Bridget Bright, was the perfect starting point for our challenge. And luckily enough, in the very same village is the Furleigh Estate — one of Britain’s best vineyards — selling award-winning wines.